1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved ironing pad that can be placed on a flat surface and used for ironing without having to set up an ironing board and is small and flexible enough to be carried in a suitcase or other hand luggage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The need for means to avoid setting up the conventional ironing board for such casual ironing or pressing in these days of permanent press synthetics has long been recognized, and flexible, relatively small, resilient pads have been devised, as, for example, that of Lehrman U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,062 in which a metal foil is used as a moisture barrier and a thermoplastic adhesive that melts at ironing temperatures (a hand iron is usually heated to about 150.degree. F. to 300.degree. F.) is employed so that upon softening of the adhesive wrinkles in the foil-containing pad will be ironed out and eliminated. In recent years, metal foils have more than doubled in price making them somewhat beyond the reach of convenience items and the continued softening and then hardening of the thermoplastic adhesive limits the life of the pad even before noticeable wear sets in and its ability to smooth out an increasingly wrinkled foil is diminished.
Iron board covers do not have to meet the requirements of being flexible but smooth when spread out for ironing for they are stretched over an ironing board, which forms their shape, and there is of course no need to prevent heat penetration; but such prevention is essential to an ironing pad which may be placed on a table or other surface that can easily be damaged by heat and moisture. Some ironing board covers have incorporated moisture or heat barriers to improve ironing techniques without, however, providing for or even encountering any need for a heat barrier that would protect painted, varnished or lacquered wooden surfaces. These are to be found in the patents Lehrman U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,603, Adiletta et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,584, Crockford U.S. Pat. No. 2,947,098 and to Goldsmith U.S. Pat. No. 3,007,267. In the Goldsmith patent, for example, an applied powdered metal heat barrier is employed solely to reflect heat back to the material being ironed and when a lower ironing temperature is desired this heat barrier is slung beneath the ironing board by a reversal of the cover whereupon the barrier is totally inoperative. In Lehrman U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,603 aluminum flakes are used in an ironing board cover as heat-reflective material (being discontinuous they cannot be a moisture barrier) and, as in the Lehrman (U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,062) pad, a heat-softening adhesive must be used to maintain this combination in wrinkle-free ironable condition.